Oral presentations, papers, experiments: NY to pilot new ways of earning a diploma
A years-long effort to rethink how New York students earn a diploma is inching along with the announcement of a new pilot program on Monday aiming to study alternatives to the more than century-old Regents exams.
The pilot program, which is still in the planning stages this school year, will add some real-world data to other efforts that are again underway over diploma regulations. State officials are restarting a series of roundtable discussions with educators and families across the state about how they’d want to change diploma requirements, they said Monday. That initiative had started in 2019, but paused in March 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit New York.
A blue ribbon commission is expected convene for roughly two years, starting this time next year. The commission will present recommendations to the Board of Regents in 2024 on how to change graduation requirements based on the roundtables and other work — about three years later than the state had planned. When considering changes, the board is expected to also consider the results of the pilot, officials said.